High-speed data transmission protocols are used in many applications in many industries. For example, the DMX512 standard for data transmission is well known and common in the stage lighting/entertainment lighting industry. DMX512 is typically implemented as a “hard wired” data link using EIA-485 differential signaling. The DMX512 standard specifies a data protocol, which includes an amount of data—up to 512 bytes—and a data rate: 250 k baud. The maximum 512 bytes (e.g., channels) is referred to as a single “universe” of lighting channels. At the 250 k baud data rate, a single universe takes approximately 23 milliseconds (msec) to send. Wirelessly sending and receiving this amount of data at this rate is problematic, and may require specialized radio equipment to do so reliably.
The specialized equipment used to send DMX512 data wirelessly can be prohibitively expensive for some installations, and fails to take advantage of the more readily available and less expensive lower speed radios—for example, ones that transmit and receive data using a “serial” protocol, such as RS232. One limitation of these radios is that they may be unable to transmit data at a high speed, such as required by a protocol such as DMX512 or other high-speed protocols.